If there is a line in Sydney Dolan classes, it is an ardent faith in being a good manager – both in space and on earth.
As a doctoral student in myth Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Aeroastro), Dolan develops a model whose goal is to alleviate satellite collisions. They consider space as a public good, a resource for everyone. “There is a real fear that you can potentially desecrate the entire orbit if there were enough collisions,” they say. “We must be treated very much in an attempt to maintain access to people to be able to use space for all different applications that he has today.”
Here, at Blue Planet, Dolan is passionate about building a community and assurance that students in the department had what they need to succeed. For this purpose, they were deeply invested in the mentor of other students; leading and participating in affinity groups for women and LGBTQ+community; and creating communication resources to help students navigate at school.
Launching to new territories
Dolana's interest in aviation began as a high school student in the centerville, Virginia. A close friend asked them to go to the Rocket Club model meeting because she did not want to go alone. “I finished with her and I really liked her, and it happened more my things than her something!” They say with laughter. Building rockets and running them on a village Virginia gave a shaping, practical experience in aviation engineering and convinced them to continue the area in college.
They attended the Purduue University, lured by a beautiful air building and the school's growth as a leading astronaut producer. Although they are grateful for the education they received in Purduue, the lack of other women in the department was glaring.
This gender imbalance motivated Dolana to start Purdue Women in Aerospace, to facilitate connections and work on changing the culture of the department. The group worked to make research spaces more friendly to women and plan the inaugural peak of Amelia Earhart to celebrate women's contribution to the field. Several hundred students, graduates and others gathered for the whole day of inspiring speakers, academic and industry panels and the possibility of making contacts.
During the younger year, Dolan was admitted to the Fellowship Matthew Isakowitz program, which places students in a commercial space company and combines them with a career mentor. In the summer they completed an internship in Nanoracks, developing a small Cubesat load, which went to an international space station. Thanks to the internship, they met with a PhD student Aeroastro, Natalya Bailey '14. Since Dolan was inclined to go to graduation, Bailey gave valuable advice on considering submitting the application and what goes to the application package – as well as the plugin to the myth.
Although they followed other schools, the myth stood out. “At that time I wasn't really sure if I wanted to be more system engineering, or if I wanted to specialize more in guidelines, navigation, control and autonomy. And I really like that the MIT program has strength in both of these areas,” explains Dolan, adding that few schools have both specializations. In this way, they would always have the option of switching from one to another if their interests have changed.
Being a good space actor
This option is useful. They conducted two research projects in the field of system engineering for his master's degree. In the first year they joined to Engineering Systems LaboratoryComparing the architecture of the lunar and Martian mission to determine which technologies can be effectively placed on both the moon and Mars, as Dolan says, “get our bang behind Bucking.” Then they worked on the media laboratory Buttons A project whose goal is to create tiles that can self -organize themselves to create scientific laboratories, zero gravity habitats and other applications in space. Dolan worked on the control of tiles and the feasibility of using a computer use.
Ultimately, Dolan decided to focus on autonomy for his doctorate, with particular emphasis on the application of the satellite movement. Joined to Dinamo Research GroupWorking with Hamsa Balakrishnan, dean of the School of Engineering and William Leonhard (1940) Aviation professor and astronautics.
Space's management has become more and more complex. With the increase in the cost of space decline and the new START suppliers, such as SpaceX, the number of satellites has increased over the past few decades – as well as the risk of collision. Traveling at a speed of about 17,000 miles per hour, satellites can cause catastrophic damage and cause pollution, which in turn pose an additional threat. The European Space Agency has estimated that there are about 11,500 satellites in orbit (2500 of which are not active) and over 35,000 debris larger than 10 centimeters. In February last year he was Close – only 33 feet – between NASA Satellite and inoperable Russian spy satellite.
Despite these threats, there are no centralized satellite maneuvers to monitor the body, and many operators are reluctant to share the exact satellite location, although they will provide limited information, says Dolan. Their doctoral dissertation aims to solve these problems using a model that allows satellites to independently make maneuver decisions to avoid collisions, using information collected from nearby satellites. The dolana approach is interdisciplinary, using reinforcement learning, game theory and optimal control to separate the representation of the space environment chart.
Dolan perceives this model as a potential tool that can be provided by decentralized supervision and inform about the principle: “I am to a large extent I am simply the support of being a good space actor, thinking about space as a protected resource, like national parks. Here is a mathematical tool that we can use to really confirm that this kind of information would be helpful.”
Finding a natural fit
Finishing his fifth year, Dolan was deeply involved in the Mit Aeroastro community since the arrival in 2019. Served as a peer mediator in Drefs program (department resources for softening friction and stress); Mentored students of other women; and served as a co -chairman Graduate Women in Aerospace Engineering group. As communication in Aeroastro Communications LabDolan created and offered workshops, coaching and other resources to help students in articles in magazines, scholarship applications, posters, CV and other forms of scientific communication. “I just believe so much that all people should have the same resources to succeed at school,” says Dolan. “The myth does a really great job, providing many resources, but sometimes it may be discouraging to determine who they are and who to ask.”
In 2020 they helped find the Affinity LGBTQ+ group called Quasar (Queer Advocacy Space in Aeroastro). Unlike most MIT clubs, Quasar is open to everyone in the section – Bachelor and master's students, lecturers and employees. Members gather several times a year for social events, and the quasar hosted academic and industry panels to better reflect the diversity of identity in the aviation field.
In his free time, Dolan loves ultraning – that is, running larger than a marathon. Until now, they run 50-kilometer races and 50 miles, and recently, a huge 120 mile in the ultramarathon yard (“basically, run, as long as you dropped,” says Dolan). This is a great antidote for stress and, interestingly, they noticed that there are many doctoral students in ultraning. “Once upon a time I talked to my adviser about it, and she says:” Sydney, are you crazy, why, at the hell, would you have something like that? ” She said it with respect!
Their hard work and discipline will pay off, preparing to complete the MIT trip. After completing the study program, Dolan hopes to find a faculty position at the university or university. They say that being a professor seems to be a natural fit, combining his fascination with aviation engineering with passion for teaching and mentoring. When it comes to where they end, Dolan waxes philosophical: “I throw many arrows into the wall and we will see … now it is with the universe.”
